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Dodd-Frank hearings continue in House Senate this week

WASHINGTON (7/17/12)--Congressional committees last week held several hearings on the impact of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act as the two-year anniversary of that legislation's passage approaches. Similar hearings are on the schedule this week in Washington.

The first of these hearings will take place today, with the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee focusing on the Dodd-Frank Act's impact over the last two years.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler and Robert Cook, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's division of trading and markets, are among those scheduled to testify.

The impact of the Dodd-Frank Act will also be the key topic during separate Thursday hearings in the House Financial Services financial institutions and consumer credit subcommittee and the House Financial Services oversight and investigations subcommittee. The consumer credit subcommittee hearing will focus on credit access; the oversight and investigations subcommittee hearing will focus on how the act has affected small businesses, communities and families.

The House Financial Services Committee's capital markets and government sponsored enterprises subcommittee will convene the final Dodd-Frank hearing of the week to discuss how the legislation has changed pending legislation and affected municipal advisers.

A Thursday House Ways and Means Committee hearing on tax reform and the U.S. manufacturing sector also is planned, but the highest-profile hearings of the week may take place today and Wednesday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual monetary policy report to the full Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees on today and tomorrow, respectively.

Bills addressing campaign finance reforms and job outsourcing are scheduled for debate in the Senate, and the House is expected to discuss defense appropriations this week.